Hello,
I am trying to figure out the best hive for me. My husband and I are newbies. We would like to buy a flow hive, but wonder how important are the ant guards & bug pan? Also, how about those legs? Do we need them or would cinder blocks work just as well? Any advice is appreciated.
B
None of it is critical or even needed. Other stands, bottoms, ant preventions are quite effective.
Thanks Chau06!
How do you keep ants away on your hives?
Cinnamon powder has been all I have needed when they get under the roof or the back cover.
Thanks again! Ill look forward to your wisdom in the future!
Hi @BethB
Good on you for asking questions.
In relation to the legs my advice and experience is that they look great but are a weak point of the hive, especially if you are planning on shifting the hive between different sites.
I prefer to sit the hive on a frame or stand of some sorts. Grease can be used around the legs of a stand to stop ants heading up.
Once a hive is established it should generally be able to defend itself from ants.
great to know! Thanks Tim. What kind of grease are you using?
I have just used general purpose machine grease. It lasts a long time.
Vaseline would also work fine.
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I put Vaseline on my Flow Hive legs. I removed my bug pan to improve circulation during the scorching temperatures in Perth.
My hive is in a courtyard on mini quartz stone so bugs aren’t really a huge problem (fingers crossed).
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Thank you for your advice. I am in Iowa, USA and obvioulsy new to bees. Just trying to soak up as much info as possible!
thank you!
More ventilation can also have the effect of impeding what the bees are trying to accomplish. @JeffH has posted about this many times.
Especially if the ambient temperature is greater than the ideal brood box temperature, it’s like having the windows open with the AC on.
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Agreed. But another poster suggested it for scorching temps.
Luckily my bees are in a partly covered courtyard area. Even there, I noticed that the bees had built some wax comb near the top of the side viewing window and when I checked today it had slid to the bottom. Obviously melted. 